


As the Water Shapes Us

by LadyBrooke



Category: The Lord of the Rings - J. R. R. Tolkien, The Silmarillion and other histories of Middle-Earth - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: Cold Weather, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-13
Updated: 2020-02-13
Packaged: 2021-02-28 03:15:44
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,210
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22606864
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadyBrooke/pseuds/LadyBrooke
Summary: Arien departed the sky on rare occasions, entrusting the fruit to Eärendil and allowing herself a break with her lover.
Relationships: Arien (Tolkien)/River-woman
Comments: 4
Kudos: 5
Collections: 2020 My Slashy Valentine





	As the Water Shapes Us

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Talullah](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Talullah/gifts).



> Thank you so much to Sleepless_Malice and AndiiErestor for reading this over!

There was a house, if it could be called that, hollowed from the large sheets of rocks that lined the shores of the river at points. This was the home of the River-woman, as much as she had any home outside of the rivers and streams that were hers. The rivers and their banks were her home, and the streams and the pools were her home, and this little house that she had made by wearing down the rocks was her home.

This state had been confusing for most of the River-woman's lovers, but Arien understood such better than most. She had the skies and the flames she brought with her everywhere to light the lands, and she had Valinor and all her former haunts, and she had this same small house of rocks as her home.

Arien departed the skies for once, having arranged with Eärendil for him to watch the path and keep the last fruit on its track. It was cold as she walked beside the Withywindle, ice dotting the top of the river. She would not interrupt her lover here, she decided, and pushed forward towards the house as the snow melted at her footsteps and froze at her leaving.

When she reached the stone house, the paths into it were laced with frozen water. Her lover must be asleep, she concluded, as the flames from her body melted that which she encountered.

She climbed down in the house, until she reached the bottom of the stairs where the River-woman spent most of her time in the water. She paused for a moment and waited.

At the sight of Arien, the pools of water at the base of the house began to heat and bubble. She waited still for the River-woman to appear as well, and she did, gaining form as she stepped from her waters. As always when they had such meetings, the River-woman did not bother to garb herself.

"You are early this year," the River-woman said, hair dripping onto the stone. Perhaps next year they would have a bed down here, Arien thought, imagining the nest of moss and flowers her lover would make for them. It would burn, of course, but her lover always seemed to enjoy seeing such.

Arien smiled and laughed, causing the flames to spark more. "After last year, I thought your Hobbit neighbors would appreciate less ice in their rivers. But if you wish me to leave and come back later, I will."

The River-woman laughed as well. "Nay, I would have you stay as long as you can and arrive as soon as you wish. Come, my daughter sent some cordial she has received from somewhere - the Dunedain, perhaps, or the elves in the mountains. We will have a drink and warm the house."

Arien smiled. "How is Goldberry? With the weather as it is, I see her less and less from my paths."

"Waiting for spring and the return of her gardens," she hummed as she spoke, an odd tune that echoed the flow of the river. "But surely you do not wish to speak much of her while you are here, when there are other things you wish to do."

Arien smiled. "Give me a glass of the cordial, and we shall see what becomes of us afterwards."

It had been overlong since Arien last stopped in Valinor, or perhaps the elves there were not so skilled in making alcohol, for Arien found herself warmer than normal as she leaned forward to share the last of the cordial with the River-woman in a kiss.

As her lips opened and their tongues began to intertwine, she leaned forward against her lover's unclad body and let her own garments, such as they were, fall away until they were both nude.

Then she pushed herself more firmly into her lover's lap. "Please," she said.

The River-woman reclined backwards until she lay on the ground, enveloped in the nest of blankets and pillows. Then she pulled Arien on top of her. "Warm me, lover, until all the ice melts from the rivers."

"Yes." Arien leaned her head down, kissing the River-woman once more before moving further down.

There she fell swiftly into the same patterns they had had for years. First she pulled at the River-woman's breasts, until her lover gasped and begged for more.

At this she moved further down still, until she could lick and suck at her leisure. Here she stayed until the River-woman shrieked once more with pleasure and pulled Arien back to rest beside her.

"I should like to please you too, now," the River-woman said.

Arien nodded, and let herself be pressed down into the blankets. Here she could let herself go, flames flickering as they wished with the certainty that this was one lover she would not burn. The River-woman only smiled as steam rose between them, echoing the pools from earlier, as Arien took her pleasure.

"Thank you," Arien panted as they both finished. They laid there in peace for some time, enjoying the heat while outside the winds battered against the hollowed rock.

When the winds finally died down, the River-woman pushed herself up. "You should come back more often. The Hobbits miss you - or well, they miss what they know of your deeds - when the ice freezes. I can't protect them from what happens when that occurs."

Arien blinked, and thought of the wolves from a prior winter and who among the Maia had once controlled a dungeon of them. "Manwë does not wish those unchosen to interfere with Sauron directly, and that is not us."

The River-woman shrugged, water falling down from her hair once more. "You come to see your lover, as you have for years uncounted and as he has turned a blind eye to. If it interferes with Sauron, it is naught more than a coincidence, is it not?" She laughed. "Besides, to tell you no, he would have to tell the rest of us as well, and I should like to see your Manwë convince Tom to leave well enough alone."

Arien pictured Manwë as she had last seen him, stern and noble on his throne, trying to convince Bombadil of anything. "He would not be able to, would he? Very well, I shall come back as often as I can convince Eärendil to watch the fruit and keep the light in the sky. If you can acquire more of the cordial, it may make matters easier."

"There's another bottle behind the rocks near the door. Take it with you, bribe him, and return - the Hobbits do say it will be a long winter, and how else shall the river stay open?" The River-woman smiled. If Arien was not well-acquainted with the depths water could have, she would have believed it was as simple as that.

But it was not. It was ice melting and lust, rivers open for fishing and small victories against Sauron that no one other than them could know of. With one final kiss, she picked up the cordial.

Outside, as Arien departed into the remaining cold, she smiled at the lack of ice in the river. Then she walked down the banks and flew into the sky once more.


End file.
